Church

The Struggle is Real

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Some Trails Are Hard to Follow

I had the privilege last weekend to share the gospel together with Christians from four different local churches. I love the unity of believers who worship the same God but in a different building than I do.

Over the years of walking with Jesus I have had countless conversations with non-believers about the gospel. Last weekend I had a conversation with a young man that I feel like I’ve had a thousand times all by itself.

This particular young man was kind, candid, gracious, and polite. As is the case with many non-believers, he had never personally read the whole Bible for himself. His understanding of Christianity was based primarily on his experience living in America.

Hearing Christian cliches. Reading bumper stickers. Talking with people who identify themselves as Christians. Seeing stereotypical Christians portrayed in the media.

During our conversation this young man said to me something along these lines (I’m paraphrasing): “I just find it hard, personally, to believe in a god that doesn’t care about all the suffering in the world. A god who is supposedly all good and loving and powerful, yet who seems to maybe even enjoy allowing so much bad stuff to happen. If some people want to believe in god because it gives them hope, I get that. But I don’t.” Continue reading →

Worthy of the Lord

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Blessed road

Jesus is not a supplement. He is not an additive. He did not come to enhance or improve your life.

Jesus came to give you a new life.

When we get this confused we may offer a version of Jesus to people that will make them comfortable. Happy. Satisfied. Sometimes people try to convince others that Jesus is worthy of being included in their current life.

Jesus is much, much more than a life-enhancer. He is the life-giver.

Jesus came to reconcile us to the Father. Our sin separates us from our Creator. Jesus willingly gave His sinless life as a substitute on the cross to endure the wrath we deserve and give us the gift of His perfect righteousness.

He makes those who receive Him worthy by His life. He qualifies us to receive an inheritance in the kingdom of God. As a result we are to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

Many people don’t truly understand grace. They think grace is primarily permissive. They think it allows us to sin and be forgiven. This is only partially true. Continue reading →

Dedication to Glory

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Set of three medals with numbers and ribbon

I watched some clips of the Olympics this week. It is amazing to see what these athletes are capable of. They have spent years fine-tuning their skills and their bodies to perform.

I marvel at their physical abilities. I also marvel at their dedication.

No one rolls out of bed covered in potato chip crumbs and decides to set a world record that day. Winning a gold medal isn’t based on a whim. It takes effort, commitment, focus, and dedication.

These talented men and women are certainly gifted physically. Their dedication to perfecting their craft is even more amazing to me.

I sadly saw a clip of a French gymnast breaking his leg during a vault this week, too. If you haven’t seen it I can’t recommend watching it. It looked terribly painful. Emotionally and physically.

In a moment his hopes for gold were finished. Years of preparation and work were nullified. The injury was catastrophic to his performance.

As I was praying today and spending some time with another believer we were discussing the church. The Bible uses the metaphor of a body to describe the church often. The church is the body of Christ. Like a physical body the church is able to be injured. Injury makes it harder to succeed at our goal. Continue reading →

Under Deconstruction

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Under Deconstruction

When is the last time you evaluated your religious activity? It is easy to fall into a spiritual routine.

Read my Bible. Check.

Go to church. Check.

Pray at dinner and bedtime. Check.

We can become mechanical without even noticing.

When we planted HBC we had a plan for what our worship time would look like. That plan was very similar to what we had experienced in our church-going lives so far.

It looked a lot like what most people expect when they attend any church.

Planting a church requires you to ask “How?” a lot. How are we going to make this work?

After about a year we started asking a different question. “Why?” Why are we doing this? Why are we doing this THIS way? Continue reading →

Embracing Tension

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theological tension

Most people I know are trying to eliminate tension in their lives.

Commercials offer products to reduce it. People go on vacations to escape it. Medications are designed to help people forget it.

Tension carries a negative connotation for many. Certain types of tension can be hazardous to your health.

Not everyone avoids tension. Some types of tension are sought on purpose. Bodybuilders actively seek muscular tension. To gain strength and muscle mass they intentionally put their muscles under as much tension as possible for as long as they can. Tension is positive in this case.

I believe Christians should actively seek theological tension. I believe this is healthy. Continue reading →

Politics & Religion

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SHHH

When I was growing up I was taught that you don’t talk politics or religion. At least, not with strangers. Better to keep these topics “in-house.” Only bring either of these up when you know the people you are conversing with already agree with you.

If you’re not careful these two topics can be polarizing. It can get heated pretty quickly.

After becoming a Christian, I found out that followers of Christ are commanded to talk religion. It’s the Great Commission. We are supposed to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations.

We can’t do that without opening our mouths. We have to talk about it. We have to tell people about Jesus. Who He is. What He taught. Why it matters.

I also found that when followers of Christ are humble and loving in their evangelism that many people – even strangers – don’t mind the conversation. Surely, some people still get pretty upset whenever someone talks about Jesus. But this isn’t new.

Experience has taught me that politics can sometimes be much more treacherous territory than religious talk. That’s not what concerns me. Continue reading →